Written by

Melanie Scott Dorsey

Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

Arthur Blackwell II, the former emergency financial manager of Highland Park, pleaded no contest Tuesday to one count of safe keeping of public money -- a two-year misdemeanor -- after a three-year legal battle stemming from accusations that he embezzled money from the city.

"Mr. Blackwell wanted closure and the fact that it is a misdemeanor doesn't require criminal intent," said Blackwell's attorney, Ben Gonek.

A no-contest plea is not an admission of guilt but is treated as such for sentencing. However the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office issued a statement that said, "By pleading no contest, Blackwell did not contest the allegations that he was: 1) an agent or servant of the State of Michigan, Local Emergency Financial Assistance Loan Board and/or the City of Highland Park; 2) that as a public officer he was authorized by law to receive public money, and 3) he used the money for his own personal use."

The plea comes eight months after the Michigan Court of Appeals reinstated criminal charges that Blackwell embezzled money while he was emergency financial manager of Highland Park.

Wayne County prosecutors initially charged Blackwell with embezzlement in 2009 after accusing him of improperly paying himself about $264,000 after agreeing to be paid $1-a-year as emergency financial manager. They also accused him of misconduct in office and refusing to turn over the city's financial records.

Blackwell always maintained that he agreed to be paid $1-a-year for only the first year of service and that then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm agreed that he should receive a salary during the subsequent years.

Gonek said the process has been frustrating to Blackwell because they had evidence that Granholm knew of the payments.

In January 2011, Wayne County Circuit Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway ruled that Blackwell had the authority to pay himself more than $200,000, but prosecutors disagreed and appealed to the Court of Appeals.

Robert Davis, a Highland Park school board member, who brought the question of Blackwell's payments to the prosecutor's attention, said he has great confidence that Blackwell will be punished and ordered to repay the money in question.

"It took him three years to admit wrongdoing, but the plea today shows his guilt," said Davis, who himself has been charged with embezzling more than $125,000 from Highland Park Schools by submitting false invoices for advertising between 2004 and 2010.

Blackwell is expected to be sentenced on April 16 before Gray Hathaway.